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It’s a heck of a way to run a pre-election campaign. On the eve of an expected election, politicians usually spend their time playing up good news, downplaying the bad, shaking hands and kissing babies.

Withey: Pinterest fuels crafts and friendships in Edmonton moms group

Moms work on their Christmas card craft. From left, Nicole McConville, Kathy House and Leigh Matheson with daughter Bronwyn, 3-1/2

Photograph by: Ed Kaiser
, Edmonton Journal

EDMONTON - Jennifer Matheson has Pinterest to thank for her new-found hoarder tendencies.

“You see all these fantastic ideas so you start saving toilet paper rolls and empty glass containers and egg cartons,” the Edmonton mom of three says about Pinterest, the pinboard-style photo sharing website. “Pool noodles go on sale at the end of the summer and I buy them all to make light sabres for my son’s birthday party.”

Matheson also has Pinterest to thank for turning her Riverbend house into a zoo every Wednesday. She and a bunch of other moms meet there weekly to make a Pinterest-inspired craft following a Pinterest-inspired meal.

“We were talking about how we pin stuff all the time and never do it,” Farha McMillan says.

Jennifer decided there was no, pardon the pun, point in being on Pinterest if she wasn’t going to make things. So in 2011, she decided to open her doors to a private group of stay-at-home mothers.

Everyone brings along their children for a hectic, creative afternoon. After they have lunch (using a Pinterest recipe, of course), they roll up their sleeves for an art project. Sometimes it’s something for their children — hair accessories, recycled crayons, wall art for the kids’ bedrooms — but this bunch have also tackled silver jewelry, fabric wallets, decorative plates and more.

It’s the making, as much as the result, that matters.

“For me this is more about the moms than the kids,” Jennifer Matheson says. “I see this as mommy time, grown-up time.”

Sometimes, the moms have a guest facilitator come in to lead the group; other times, they take charge themselves. Kathy House, one of the regulars, leads this week’s activity: elegant cream-coloured Christmas cards with a cut-out snowflake. House just so happens to be a demonstrator for Stampin’ Up and has all manner of fancy card-making equipment

The gluten-free lasagna plates are cleared away and House bustles about stacking craft supplies onto the table: cardboard, double-sided tape, an embossing machine, stamps, paper-cutting tools. There is no formal lecture, no pressure at Matheson’s Pinterest gathering.

Some moms assemble like Christmas elves to work on the cards; others are in another room tending to a child’s needs, or still nibbling on baking in the kitchen. It’s organic, casual, a collective effort — making crafts, raising kids, connecting with other mothers.

“We’ll just crank out as many as we can,” House says. “This is totally easy, ladies!”

The moms (and the napping babies) are perfectly accustomed to the din of children at play, not to mention the booming bark of Woody, the Matheson family’s German shepherd. And as a team, this creative bunch manages to keep an eye on the children while they make stuff, though sometimes they hire a babysitter to help out.

There are mishaps, of course (aren’t there always, with little kids about). “Injuries happen at these parties, too,” says Jessica Helliwell as she comforts her five-year-old son, Keagan. “He got hit by a doll.” She soothes the boy, who holds an ice pack over the goose egg on his forehead.

Bobbi Faith-Schmidt is grateful for the weekly get-together. “When kids are napping we’re often stuck at home,” she says. “Here, we can do it together. It takes a village.”

Nicole McConville says she loves the craft aspect but signed up for the food as much as anything.

“You get to eat interesting, fun food AND do a craft,” the mom of two little girls says. “And Jenn is super nice.”

That she is. I am wowed at Matheson’s ability to let chaos take over her home every Wednesday in the name of art, in the name of friendship. I’m not sure I’d have the guts to permit the disorder, the noise.

Matheson likes to beat herself up about being a hoarder but she is clearly an extraordinary woman, an extraordinary friend who’s got her priorities straight.

“This is my house, this is the way it looks,” says the hostess, grinning. She is the picture of calm, clearly in her element among friends, art projects, children. “Sometimes it takes me the entire week to clean it up for the next week.”

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